Blood, 1958, Vol. 13, No. 7, pp. 684-687.
© 1958 American Society of Hematology, Inc.
Paroxysmal Nocturnal Hemoglobinuria: The Role of
Properdin in the Diagnostic Thrombin Test
WILLIAM H. CROSBY 1 and
NAOMI R. BENJAMIN 1
1 Department of Hematology, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Walter
Reed Army Medical Center, Washington, D. C.
1. The "thrombin test" for PNH consists of adding thrombin to the standard
acid-hemolysis test, thereby increasing hemolysis of PNH red cells. It has
been suggested that the effect of the thrombin solution is not due to involvement of the coagulation system but to contamination of the thrombin by
properdin, a globulin which is essential in the acid-hemolysis reaction of
PNH.
2. In the present experiments the thrombin test was positive using preparations of thrombin which were free of properdin activity.
3. Thromboplastic materials devoid of properdin activity may be substituted for thrombin in the thrombin test.
4. It is concluded that the properdin which contaminates the commercially
available thrombin preparations has little to do with the results of the thrombin
test for PNH.
Submitted on July 1, 1957
Accepted on January 30, 1958
